With today's advanced networks and the proliferation of smart phones and other devices adapted for multi-media and other applications, consumer demand for data bandwidth is rapidly increasing, such that there is a need for dynamic management and control of network resources, including data transfer rate and the like.
Current wireless networks, such as 3G code division multiple access (CDMA), 4G long term evolution (LTE), and other network structures, are capable of adjusting signal characteristics such as signal direction, antenna gain, and other characteristics at the base transceiver system (BTS), or cell site, such that a robust signal link may be maintained with connected devices. Generally, adjacent BTS's utilize distinct frequency channels for communicating with wireless devices within each cell. Furthermore, each channel generally comprises two frequencies; one for voice transmission (speaking), and one for reception (hearing). Each BTS is capable of communicating with a plurality of wireless devices at any given instant in time. As wireless devices translate geographically, a hand-off is effectuated from a first BTS to a second BTS in such a manner as to maintain data transfer between the mobile wireless device and the network. During a handoff, the mobile device is configured to change frequencies such that communication can be effectuated with an adjacent BTS.
Cellular BTS's generally transmit over relatively low frequencies, allowing low power transmission effectively maximizing the operational use of a mobile device battery. In the US, such frequencies for use with wireless communications include 850 MHz and 1.9 GHz. Additionally, subsequent to establishing a connection with a BST, individual wireless devices are generally instructed by the BST to reduce power such that interference over the network is minimized and overall communication quality is improved.
Certain modern wireless systems, however, are limited in the amount of available channels (frequency pairs), power, and data transfer that may be administered between linked devices within the cell. The total communication threshold for a given BTS can be referred to as its link budget. For example, in a 3G CDMA network, a BTS may be configured to provide a data rate of about 3 Mbps to a linked device. By way of example, a 3-minute MP3 song may be downloaded in about 15 seconds at a data rate of 3 Mbps. These data transfer rates are accomplished by several complex digital compression and modulation techniques. As media requirements continue to grow, more users are requiring access to data transfer resources as demand for multimedia downloads increases over wireless networks.
Furthermore, there are often multiple BTS's located within proximity to an individual mobile wireless device at any given time. However, until now there has yet to be provided a system adapted to direct one or more mobile devices from a first BTS to a second BTS for the purpose of managing system resources such as bandwidth. In this regard, a first BTS might operate over a first group of frequencies, whereas a second BTS might operate over a second group of frequencies. It would be beneficial to provide a wireless device configured to “tune” from the first BTS to the second BTS upon a change in the antenna frequency response. This sort of power management handoff will require certain modal antenna technology, and software programmed between the wireless device and BTS for effectuating the handoff.
Certain platforms exist which enable improvements over current wireless schemes. For example, previously proposed in the art was a method for communicating power management data to a mobile device across a CDMA network. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,723, titled “POWER CONTROL IN A CDMA NETWORK” describes a modulated signal comprising forward packet data and forward packet control information over a forward link in a packet-switched CDMA network; the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. According to the '723 patent, a method includes carrying the packet data on the in-phase component of a quadrature-carrier signal, and carrying the packet data control information on the quadrature component of the quadrature-carrier signal. The '723 patent does not disclose antenna systems for processing the modulated signal. As such, there is a continued need for antenna systems adapted to utilize these and other signaling methods such that dynamic power management may become a reality across CDMA, LTE, and future networks.
Furthermore, commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,911,402, titled “ANTENNA AND METHOD FOR STEERING ANTENNA BEAM DIRECTION” discloses multi-mode antennas for use in mobile wireless devices wherein said antennas are adapted to vary one or more signal characteristics, such as the antenna radiation pattern; the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
With the advent of improvements in the field of wireless communications such as those described above, there is a need for development of specialized antenna systems adapted for power management and control over a wireless communication network, such as CDMA, LTE, and other wireless network platforms, such that data transfer and download speeds can become dynamically adjusted and optimized for mobile wireless devices over a robust network link. Other benefits would include power adjustment across multiple antenna modes for minimizing device interference and thereby improving network communications, and for dynamically adjusting specific absorption rate (SAR). It would be of further benefit to provide antenna systems adapted to hand-off those mobile wireless devices across multiple BTS's where there is a need for improved data transfer rates and where another BTS may provide an increase in power, and thus available bandwidth. Still further, there is a need to optimize and dynamically control network resources within localized cells for improving data access over a given network.